kaled - 4:19 pm on Oct 9, 2010 (gmt 0)

I started with basic 29 years ago and use Borland/Inprise/Embarcadero Pascal today (Delphi).

Forget Basic - you've been out of programming and things have changed so picking a language for familiarity is pointless.

I would like to recommend Delphi, however, the development team lost the plot several years ago - there is no 64bit compiler and no prospect of one for two years despite the fact that it's been promised many times now. Instead they have concentrated on trivia.

You could try FreePascal - I've looked at it but don't like it. You could try Java or .NET or one of the various versions of C that's out there. However, if I'm honest, I'd say forget it - spend your time doing something more profitable or more fun.

Kaled.